Normally I don’t recommend hotels where I haven’t
stayed. I’m doing it again the second article in a row.
Suk 11 Hostel, like the Atlanta in the July 5 issue, is a
family-run backpacker joint of the right sort. This place,
just down a small lane off Soi 11 Sukhumvit Rd., has a façade
and lobby based on rural Thai architecture, a theme carried
into the hallways and nooks of the four floors above. The
two rooms I inspected were simple and clean. Air-conditioned
singles with private baths start at 550 Thai baht (about US$14.50),
doubles at 750 THB, and group rooms for families at 1,300
THB. A breakfast of fruit, cereal, and toast comes with the
rooms, and guests can sign up for the common meal in the evenings
at 60 baht a plate.
The two times I visited and several times I walked past, the
hostel seemed a place where returning guests and first-timers
discuss travel itineraries and other interesting topics over
coffee or beers in the evenings. It doesn’t have the
quirky flair of the historic Atlanta, but it does look a pleasant
option for budget travelers or anyone else looking for good
value and satisfaction.
On the other leg of the same little lane that loops back to
Soi 11 is Cheap Charlie’s – not to be confused
with Charlie Brown’s Tex-Mex Restaurant in between.
Cheap Charlie’s is a Bangkok institution famous for,
yes, being cheap. It’s not really any kind of a place
at all. It looks like Charlie just stuck some bar stools around
an accumulation of driftwood that got stuck at the corner
of the lane. It opens at 5 pm or thereabouts and usually draws
an evening crowd of long-time foreign residents – English
teachers, reporters, and other lager louts -- who must all
take care to stay inside the yellow line painted on the pavement
of the lane. Outside the line, drinkers are no longer under
Charlie’s protection and fair game for the cars that
creep inches from the bar stools. Charlie’s has most
of the modern facilities, including a bathroom, where guests
are requested not to go “No. 2,” because he’s
not hooked up to any sewer lines.
A little café sitting catty-corner of Charlie’s
offers a slightly more upscale environment for breakfast,
coffee, and light meals, and right outside the lobby of Suk
11 is the area’s elegant dining choice in an old wooden
Thai building. The restaurant – and I never got the
name -- serves up a delicious variety of Chinese-Thai noodle
and rice dishes at more elevated prices. A luncheon for two
can run about 600 THB, but the food is good and pleasantly
presented.
This self-contained neighborhood is within walking distance
of the Nana Skytrain Station, making it easy to get just about
anywhere in Bangkok. Only a few stations away is Siam Central
Station, the main stopping point for Bangkok’s shopping
area chockablock with massive Asian-style shopping malls,
including MBK, Siam Square, Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon.
The Suk 11 Hostel (www.suk11.com) is across Soi 11 Sukhumvit
Road from the entrance to the Ambassador Hotel. The lane passing
between the 7-11 and the old Thai wooden house leads to the
entrance of the hostel. Turning left at the hostel takes you
past Charlie Brown’s Tex-Mex and on to Cheap Charlie’s
and the little café at the other corner of the lane.
Anil, the manager of Suk 11, says reservations should be made
three to four days in advance.
(Note: Travelers have reported that one-day visa service is
no longer available at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur).
